Another side, another story
by Kupo Stiltzkin
Summary: (Chapter 5 up) Certain events from Flame of Recca manga, told from a Jyushinshuu's perspective.
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Disclaimer: Flame of Recca and characters are properties of Anzai Nobuyuki

A/N: Certain events of Flame of Recca manga, from Raiha's (and later could be Fuuko's) perspective. Pairing: RaiFuu.

**Another side, another story**

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**Volume 6 Chapter 6: The Person Who Should Be Here**

_Camera 1…_

_Check._

_Camera 2…_

_Check._

_Camera 3…_

_What's Mikoto doing outside of my room?_

_Camera 4…_

_Ah, he's coming here._

_Camera 5…_

_Nothing special.___

_Camera 6…_

_He's getting closer._

_Camera 7…_

_Is that-_

Suddenly, two big hands covered my eyes.

"GUESS WHO!?" The voice sounded exactly like a man with a heavy kansai accent, desperately trying to sound like a woman. It almost made me laugh, but I was able to suppress it to a smile.

I decided to play his silly little game. "… Miki?"

"Guess again!"

"Umm… Neon?" - Which was impossible, since I just saw her leave for UBS preliminaries.

"Wrong-o!"

"Mikoto?"

The person behind my back snorted. "How could you! Don't I sound like a sweet, gentle and elegant lady? You're comparing me to that wench!?" He snapped at me effeminately.

_But you sound almost like her_. I didn't say it to him out loud, of course.

"Err… Kirin?"

"Tsk, tsk! Wrong again, Raiha! How dare you think that such a good girl like her is-"

I decided to give him a good lesson, and slowly my fingers went to gently _touch_ his hand that was still covering my eyes. "Kurei-sama, I know you can't wait till tonight, but if you want… we can _do it_ here-"

He immediately let go. "AHHH!! Stop it, stoppit, I'm not Kurei!"

I turned around and found Joker. My fellow uruha was rubbing his arms furiously, trying to get rid of the goose bumps he attained from my touch. "Next time you want to play 'Guess who?', make sure that person you're gonna abuse isn't keeping watch in the surveillance room." I said.

He shrugged and grinned. "Raiha-han, it's just a joke."

"Haven't learned a thing, did ya? I thought Neon gave you a nice slap last week."

Joker suddenly has this dreamy look, and caressed his left cheek. "Yeah… I wanna see her do that again."

"I guess you must have like that s-" But my words were cut short by a figure that was seen approaching the castle. It was a girl, age around 15-16, slender body, a face that was slightly familiar…

"Kirisawa Fuuko," Joker said from my back. He whistled. "Ah, would you take a look at that body! I can't believe she's only 16!"

She didn't bring Fuujin with her. Then I found my head was ringing with Kurei's order he had told me yesterday. _'Make sure that Koganei Kaoru can participate in this tournament. Do anything that you deem …necessary.'_

"Neon said that Koganei has arrived on this island," Joker said with a teethy grin.

"Joker, I have a favor to ask," I shifted up from my chair and went outside. "Ask somebody to keep watch here. I have things to do."

When I left the surveillance room, Joker called me just to say, "Hey, Prince charming! Don't overdo it! Make sure that you won't break her heart!"

I watched her intently from my new found location, a tree branch that was quite hidden. From my observation, I could assume that she had a bouncy attitude, very lively from head to toe, very tomboyish, very high spirited, very brave, or should I say very foolish. She's trying to enter the Uruha grounds on daylight. And without the Fuujin madougu… I never knew _that person_ was gonna be a 'she', though…

Now, should I:

1. Walk nonchalantly from the castle, introduce myself and then ask if she's lost or something? …………………_Corny_.

2. Lean on a tree with a style and act like a Casanova: "Hey girlie, want me to give you a tour around the castle?" ………………… _Naah__, that's Joker's style._

3. Pretend that I don't see her and ignore her completely? ……………………_That's Rasen's style, so far it only works on Kirin_.

4. Purposely bump into her so that I can ask her where she's going? …………………………_clich_.

5. Walk to her, and say, "I think I've fallen in love with you. Ever since the first time I see you, I never felt so sure that we're meant to be together. Wanna be my partner in life?" ………………_I've been reading too many romance novels. Why does Neon like them so much_?

6. Point my sword at her... then ask her to scream. …………………_Was I thinking like Mokuren just now?_

7. Save her from a life threatening situation like a prince in fairy tales?

She's getting closer.

Joker's gonna tease me mercilessly. I bet he'll say, _'What, an idiot like you, seducing a 16 year old girl?_ _Just make sure that she or her friends won't kick your ass!'_

…Closer.

She cast a glance on the castle, set her fists on her waist and said to herself, "Aha! I guess I'll go check out that castle! It looks weird and I'm curious."

_Well, well, curiosity killed the cat_. _Wait, curiosity only harmed the cat. A cocaine overdose killed it._

"LET'S GO!" She bellowed and suddenly quickened her pace.

Drastic times call for drastic measures.

I jumped down from the branch at the same time with my lightning speed. The girl literally crashed onto me, and almost fell from the impact, but I caught her hand at the right time.  
  
I looked at her –Kirisawa Fuuko- as though noticing she was there for the first time, feeling the skin of her hand and the existence of Fuujin beneath my fingers. "You all right? I asked, the usual smile tugging on my face.

Somehow, she was slightly blushing from our glance exchange. "I'm fine."

She looked a li'l bit cuter than the photograph our investigation team gave me, since the portrait couldn't picture how she stammered and widened her eyes at my sight.

It was too soon to say that I scored with her. Then I wondered vaguely if Joker was watching us from the surveillance room. "Good. Are you lost?" I dared to ask.

"You could say so, but not really, I-"

"Are you a participant of the tournament?"

She looked hesitant. "Em, yes, excuse me, I-"

"Yes?"

She pointed at her hand which is still in mine. "Can you let go of my hand?"

"Oh, sorry!" She pulled her hand brusquely the moment I loosened my grip. "It's kinda rare to see a cute girl like you around here, so I literally got carried away."

Her cheeks turned a brilliant shade of scarlet for the second time of the day. It's _fun_ teasing her! "So, what exactly are you doing around here?"

"I want to have a look around that castle," She motioned the Uruha mansion slightly with her chin, and I slowly turned to the building's direction.

"I live there."

That, expectedly, got her fully undivided attention. From the way she was glancing moments ago, she didn't cared a thing about me. I found her fixing my figure with her curious green eyes now, as I walked casually to the castle and she followed suit. "So you want to tour the castle? No problem! I'll be your guide!"

"Huh! You are the guy who lives in the castle?" She said, obviously unaware of the fact until now. "Oh. So that's it."  
  
In the castle, security guards in black greeted us with suspicious stares on the girl.

"I'm back," I said.

"Raiha-sama, who is the young lady?" One of the MIB asked me.

I didn't give it another thought and replied coolly. "My girlfriend."

She "PULLED" me to the side with a head lock and whispered indignantly to my ears, "Who the hell is your _girlfriend_?"

"Sorry. I was just kidding…" I grinned nervously.

_Touchy_. That explained why she didn't forgive Fujimaru. She let go of my neck quickly and hissed a line that she'll break my neck if I try to pull that move again on her.

I smiled, opened the door and welcomed her. "Come in......"

Kouran Mori's antique statues and middle century armors collection are lining in the great hall. She followed me warily, casting a curious look to each artistic object. "What do you think? Pretty isn't it? Too bad I can't take you upstairs. But the first floor is all open......" The moment I turned around, she's out of sight.

"Huh?" But her presence is still somewhat vague, and felt close.

CLANK CLANK

"Raiha-han!"

Joker's head popped out from one of the ancient armors. Each of his word is followed closely by the sound of the armor's visor clanking. "GREAT JOB! Genjuro reports that Koganei Kaoru is entering the UBS dome right now!"

"What are you doing in there? Mori'll kill you!"

"Ah, who cares? You know the best he can do is have a bunch of bodyguards follow him everywhere, and let 'em do the dirty job. Before those assholes can do a thing to me, I'm already at Hawaii, drinking Kahlua on the beach with a bunch of D cupped chicks!"

"Joker, what will we ever do without you?" I replied mockingly.

"Hey, that's what I'm here for, my man!" He grinned. "By the way, Kurei-han is waiting for you in his room."

"What about you?"

"I'm gonna watch Koganei's match with my own eyes. Don't trust those cameras. See ya!" He left by hopping inside the armor, making a loud 'CLANK' that echoed throughout the great hall every time he moved.

I was halfway to Kurei's chamber when Joker yelled.

"Raiha-han! Nice work on the Hokage girl!"

Kurei's unmasked face immediately greeted me the moment I entered his chamber. He sat on one of the couch, resting his chin on his right fist. "The chimaera's against Kaoru on the first round," He said, watching the monitors inside his room which was showing the match of division A, round 2 ( Koganei Kaoru vs. Shiju ) from every possible angle.

The creature with enormous fangs shrieked and lunged to Kaoru's direction.

"Is that Genjuro's experimental human and animal fusion?" I asked.

A sinister smile tugged on my master's face. "A combination of human and lion genes. Quite interesting, isn't it?"

"Kurei-sama, Genjuro seems to be conducting another experiment under the command of Mori Kouran. If he can create such thing, only God knows what he's maki-"

"As long as he still proves to be useful to me, I will keep him at my side. Use or be used."

I was about to open my mouth to protest, but he cut me in. "Understand?" His tone clearly said that the matter was settled.

"Affirmative," I replied, the answer was obvious.

"Good. You're dismissed."

Just when I was wondering where that Hokage girl could be, Kurei with his stare fixed on the monitors said, "The Hokage girl accidentally pushed the water dungeon's switch."

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**Volume 7 Chapter 2: Feast of the Illusion Master VI (Menou)**

I walked inside the water dungeon, and found her lying on the floor - wet from head to toe, and unconscious. And just when I thought of giving her a CPR, ironically I found her …asleep. So I put her on my lap, and waited the sleeping beauty to wake up from her long-beauty slumber.

So I stared at the girl on my lap. She doesn't look like a fighter right now, in fact, she looks just like any other normal sophomore girl. Her eye lashes are long, and her skin, though filled with scars and bruises, felt a certain smooth. And her lips… I focused upon her lips. So full and so sensual, and yet so innocent. No lipstick used. Maybe if I just touched it a little…

This is what you'll get if you hang around Joker for too long. I'd better wake her up before I do something illogical or… irresponsible.

I gently patted her cheeks. It took several minutes of effort until she vaguely open her eyes, "hey...... hey... are you alright?" I said.

And her reply to me was, "Is it my prince calling me?" Immediately after, she observed her surrounding in a mere second and eventually found out that she just slept on my lap.  
  
So I smiled and bowed at her. This would be the kicker. "Your prince at your service. I'm here to save you."  
  
Her face was a deep shade of crimson, but whether it was due to rage or embarrassment, I can't really say.

"You're not supposed to listen to a lady's dream!!"

_B A N G !_

After she left, I stood up and shake my head, which was now aching terribly, and instantly knew: It's due to rage AND embarrassment.


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A/N: Thanks to everyone that reviewed. To readers and reviewers: Comments, critics, flames or anything are welcomed. Please don't hesitate to remind and correct me if I made a mistake again or the characters are OOC.

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**_Volume 9 Chapter 3: A Quiet Peaceful Night_****__**

_On the fourth day of the ura butou satsujin-- the day the representatives from the four blocks were determined: _

_"Block A" hokage vs. saakasu, hokage won without bloodshed._

_"Block B" kaisentai vs. uruha ma, Gashakura eliminated all four opponents._

_"Block C" uruha rai vs. erekiburan, uruha rai was clearly victorious. _

_"Block D" POG vs. uruha kurenai... 2 minutes and 11 seconds into the match-- POG's five members completely disappeared from the surface of the earth. _

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**_Uruha mansion, _****_8:35 PM_****_._**

_=HOKAGE TEAM CHARACTER REPORT=_

_Name: KIRISAWA FUUKO  
-- Age: 16 _

_-- Birthday: August 2nd _

"Raiha, put that down! Your opponent for tomorrow is me!"

I looked up from the document I was reading, and saw Joker and Neon are sitting together on the couch. It's quite a rare sight, since Jisho just recently died, and Neon hasn't really got over it yet (Even though she doesn't show it). Joker said that he should stick around her and (sort of) cheer her up. But from the way I look at it, the only thing he did is pester Neon much more than usual. "Just a minute. I thought you're gonna spy on the Hokage tomorrow instead of participating." I continued reading.

_-- Horoscope: Leo [that really explains a lot.]_

_-- Blood type: B_

Joker appeared on top of the paper. "You know, you're starting to have _that_ look." He grabbed the report away.

"What _look_?" I said, eyeing him carefully with a smile.

"That '_Kai_' look." Joker paused and cast a quick glance at the paper, reading it out loud. "_-- _Record up till now: 1 Win with Fujimaru from Kuu team_. _Ya know_, _if I were her, I'd kill that bastard. Or better; smash his face repeatedly to the ground until his mama won't recognize him anymore._"_

"She's a lot more forgiving than you. Than us, in fact." I pulled the file back to re-read it for the last time.

_-- Team Hokage's bright spot. More like a guy than a guy. [Very true. Her punch is almost as brutal as Mikoto's.]_

_Note: Use onitsume (claw) crystal on Fuujin which resulted in creating the skill Kaze tsume (wind claw)__. Appears to be oblivious of Fuujin's true power._

CLICK CLICK CLICK

Joker was having the time of his life adding today's photos to his "Uruha album". He'd been amassing this secret collection of rare pictures. I even heard that he once had a picture of Aki and Miki just coming out of the shower, but apparently Neon snuffed it out and the photo was nowhere to be found the next day. "Hey, Raiha-han, smile! The girls at Ura butou satsujin are going crazy about you. By the way, would you pose naked for me? After all, male porn is so hard to find nowadays. I'll sell it to the highest bidder. C'mon, don't give me that _Kai_ look again!"

I finally placed the file down. "Are you saying that I'm obsessed with her?"

Both of them exchanged glances before exclaiming in unison. "HELL YEAH!"

CLICK CLICK

"If you want, I'll snap her some pictures for you." Joker said with a huge, blatant smirk on his face.

Neon looked around the room as if she's inside a very filthy place, and say flatly to Joker. "I'm thirsty."

Joker looked back at her. "What does that has got to do with me?"

"What are you, a man or a mouse?!" She turned away from Joker irately and revert her attention to me. "Buy me something to drink from the dispenser. _Please_."

I looked at her with a desperate smile. Aki or Miki would gladly go to the dispenser machine (mind you, it's at the park, and that's about 1 km away) and bring home several soda cans for their beloved sister, but I can't find a reason to refuse Neon. Kurei hasn't given me anytime to mourn for Jisho's death as well. I can't call it mourning though, since he's actually still alive - in a different way. Besides, arguing with Neon was like arguing with a wall---or Joker. It was equally pointless. "We have everything in the fridge. I'll get something for you."

"There's nothing in the fridge. Last night I got really hungry, and finished everything inside." Joker answered, the mischievous grin never leaving his face.

Neon fixed him with her patented death glare. "No late-night snack for another week…"

"The uruha assholes last night went wild next door! How the hell can I sleep?!"

_Mokuren Mikoto = mad lovers = uruha assholes. That's Joker's theory of the day._

"MOVE your bed! What are you, stupid?" cried Neon.

"No, I'm Joker." He poked his chest with his thumb. "And I already did that last week. I should ask Kurei if I can get a new room, away from those two. And I mean, really FAR away."

I raised my eyebrows. "Is it really that bad?"

Joker motioned us to come closer. "I told you, those two…" He whispered in a disgusted tone. "It's probably continuous groaning from my porn video tape player. But I had switched it off yesterday night, so that could only mean one thing... they were hum-"

Neon looked like she was ready to throw up her dinner. "That's enough, Joker." She scolded. Some trains of thought were too horrifying to imagine.

I stood up and stretched. "What will you have, HIGHNESS?"

"Pocari Sweat."

"Instant coffee," said Joker.

"Yes, drink another can of coffee, so you'll spend another sleepless night gobbling down our food supply."

"Hey, I'm just following the rules of nature! People should eat when they're hungry. On top of that, my occupation needs an infinite supply of energy. Eating is how I replenish the energy that has been lost during battles."

"Nobody here eat as much as you! And you're not even fighting, Kurei-sama and Noroi are the one-"

Sighing resignedly to myself, I left them with their pointless old- married- couple- like bickering, acutely aware that it will last for hours. Listening more of it will make me insane.

It was an average night at the hotel park. The wind blew gently, the moon shined, the stars are twinkling and the sky is a dazzling midnight blue. There was not a thing to be heard. Except that... two people were running around the grounds. I was about to walk back to the mansion with two cans in my hands, but directly change my mind when a familiar voice was heard from the pathway. I spun around, and there was _the girl_ with the other Hokage member, Ishijima Domon is having late night jogging.

"Domon! Run faster!"

She looked even cuter tonight, with her brown bangs whipping on her cheeks, sweat flowing on her skin, and the dampened shirt completely emphasizing her curves. DON'T STARE AT HER THAT WAY, I told myself... she would kill me if she found out. I shook my head, and turned my attention to Domon, who has stopped running and is trying to catch his breath.

"Fuukoooo can we rest for a little while?"

She stopped running. "You are pathetic!! You are so useless, you can't even do better than a girl!"

I found myself walking to her. She was so busy lecturing Domon that she didn't realize I was approaching until I was already at her back. "You speak really forcefully, clear cut and powerful!!" I exclaimed.  
  
Fuuko gasped. I swear I thought she was going to have a heart failure and drop dead to the ground. That must mean a good thing. She remembers me!

And she's stuttering. "Y... you, back then…"

'Yes, the one you knocked out.'

Well that was what I really wanted to say, but however, that really wasn't the right  
thing to do.

"They call me Raiha... it was terrible what happened the other day..." I went on and placed my right hand on my forehand, acting like I was regretting something. "I don't know what happened but you were gone when I woke up, such a sudden separation... an unfortunate incident."

I could feel her confusion, like giant question marks flashing through on the air. I bet she is making a mental note by now: '_He didn't even realize that I knocked him out?? Gosh, this guy is so slow... I bet most Uruha guys are slow and stupid to boot_.'

"But we finally meet again!" I charged to her, grabbed her shoulders firmly, and she let out a muffled yelp.

**P O W**!

But it didn't last for long. The gorilla-like man had given me a mean punch that sent me flying. (Ouch.) He bellowed at me the moment I stood on the ground again, his spit is spraying all over my face. "What do you think you are doing with my idol?!"

"Hi! Nice to meet you, my name is Raiha!" I tried to smile, even though my head still hurts and my face is covered with spits.

"HOW DARE YOU!?" Domon doesn't have enough patience and swings his fist offensively for the second time. It was simple to see where the punch comes from, I evade the blow with a swift movement, and didn't forget to place the soft drink cans on the top of his head.

They looked surprised. "I'm sorry, I just have a very amiable personality, please forgive me if I offend you. As for Domon, you have a good punch, but your arm movement is over exaggerated, and it's easy to see it coming. If you can move your wrist a little less and support it with your waist, I think you will get better results."

I waved at them and sauntered off. "Anyway, bye. Fuuko, let's go on a date some time."

"In your dreams!!" It wasn't Fuuko that replied to my request, but the gorilla-like man.

I grinned even wider. Domon's irritated complain can still be heard from where I stand. "Who was that guy, Fuuko!! You like him!?"

"What are you talking about, that I like him!! He's just some weirdo I met before!!"

_So she thought of me as just a 'weirdo'. Well, I'd show her one of these days. Something a LOT worse than just a stupid weirdo_.  
  
__

Neon was at the front gate of the mansion, crossing her arms and glaring me an irritated look. I could see an invisible twitch developing on her temple. "You sure took your bloody sweet time," She said crankily. "And empty handed."

I grinned and turned out my empty wallet. "Sorry, when I got to the park, I just realized I don't have any coins with me."

She sighed and leisurely raised a hand to her cheek, brushing the red strands back behind her ear. "It's okay. Kirin and Rasen are off to town to buy us some late night snacks. Go to bed, you have a fight tomorrow."

I pulled out a ruffled piece of paper from my pocket and offered it to Neon. "Then you'd better keep this. I might not come back alive tomorrow."

She looked mildly surprised at the letters written on the piece. "You idiot… why are you still keeping that?"

"It was a blood oath I made with my good friends," I shrugged and grinned. "I can't just use it as toilet paper."

Neon sighed, and her eyes brimmed up with tears. "Throw it away. There's no reason to keep it now that Jisho is gone." She shrugged dejectedly, walking away from me.

_JISHO_

_RAIHA_

_NEON_

That's what's written on the tousled paper_._ Our blood contract to live and die for Kurei.

Unknown to Neon, I mutely insert the piece back to my pocket.

I had my own reasons.

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**_Volume 11 Chapter 5: A Mysterious Old Man_****__**

They say that I'm different. And indeed, I am. My personality is nothing like a normal girl. I don't have any interest in things like romance, music, or fashion, the things that normal girls like. All I'm interested in is beating Recca and Domon up. When the other girls were playing with their blonde barbies, I went to the swamp to search for frogs with Recca. In junior high, I was dejected and alone. Somebody made my view of life completely changed back then, and I turned a bit friendly.

Still, girls my age are supposed to talk about the new boy bands, current leading pop singer, the latest fashion trend, and worst: _romance_ (read: boys they like). I instead, spend most of my time at the school's rooftop, be Yanagi's assistant or pick a fight with the boys.

I never felt like a girl because I didn't grow up like one. But there is one side of me that sounded (at least) like a girl. My mother used to read me classic fairy tales. Most of 'em had the typical plot: a princess that needed to be rescued and then live happily ever after with a prince of her dreams. But I really like one of them, the one titled 'the little mermaid'. So much that I dreamt of a prince. And the most embarrassing thing is, somebody actually _overheard_ it.

"Hey!"

It was inside the hotel park, 12:40 PM. I was sitting on the grass, doing light stretching. He's not the first one. Domon has been following me everywhere since junior high. But he's nowhere to be seen right now, though. I bet he's stuffing his face at the restaurant.

"I don't really mind if we walk together, but why are you following me around?" The brown head finally pop out off from the tree at my back, and he grinned goofily at me. "Raiha." I thought he was just a weirdo at first, but right now people might see him as a stalker. I was practicing and he just approached me outta nowhere. Not that I really mind, because, well, he's not so bad looking anyway… Alright, godammit, I will grant you one thing, and one thing only: he IS kinda cute.

He gave off an excited wave. "Come on! The finals are within a week!! Let's have another round!"

I can't believe this. We've been running, like, 10 km already and he still wants to have another round?! And to have an uruha guy remind you that you're going to fight one of his friends next week just makes you more edgy. I scowled at him and replied louder than I should. "That's enough. I'm already really nervous about this! Just let me practice alone!!"

He suddenly has this rare serious expression and looked straight to my eyes. "How cruel. I just wanted to be with you."

My heart skipped a beat. I felt blood rushed to my face with lightning speed, so I made a feeble attempt to appear furious and look away so he won't catch me…blushing? I'm blushing?  
  
"Do you dislike me?" He chortled.

_Who would?! Eh, I mean_…

"D... dumbass!! What are you talking about!!" I exclaimed nervously, giving a miserable effort to brush off my awkwardness with anger.

_W... what? Just an instance now... what was that strange feeling...?_

"young-- little-- girl—"

But my embarrassment quickly changed to something else, UTTER ANGER. Somebody is… squee…zing my bre…asts… from my back, and the molester sounded undeniably male. A very old scumbag, in fact. Raiha looked completely shocked, and fresh blood is rushing out of his nose.****

"Whaaaat was that old man!?" I raged, all of the blood rushing to my face. But the pervert with happy-faces-shirt ran away with a bow in hand already, leaving me standing there flabbergasted, mortified and totally fuming with fury. "Go after him Raiha!! Come on!!"

But Raiha didn't move. Instead, he pointed to his head. "I think there's a letter." Apparently, there's a note attached to an arrow shot right on his forehead.  
  
A vein is wearily twitching under my eye. "What are you up to now......" I pull the paper from his forehead heatedly, and gave it a quick read.

-- _Save the little crystals before you find fuujin's main crystal, {don't use it freely} --from the mysterious old man--_

"Mysterious... old man..." I echoed.

_How did he know about fuujin_......!?

I was about to walk back to the hotel, but found out that Raiha is having trouble with his nosebleed. I threw my towel at him and he pressed it to his nose. "Thanks."

We exchanged awkward glances. "Don't mention…" I moved and shook my head in a way uncomfortably. "…_this_ to anyone."

He nods. "Not a word."

"I swear, if I found that old geezer, I'll make sure that he learned a thing or two."

My mind inattentively trailed off to Recca's words when I was fighting Ganko at Kurei's villa. _'If you make another scar on her, then there's no way she's gonna get married!'_

_I can't get married anymore_…

"I'll marry you if nobody would." Raiha suddenly said.

_Did I just say my thought out loud?_

I rolled my eyes to him, and he buried his face deeper to the towel. I really wanted to hit him. Or better, knee him somewhere it _really_ hurts. But I was more surprised to see Raiha's face beginning to turn the same shade of as Recca's flame dragons.


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**A/N: **Thank you for the reviews from Scarlet (yes, I'm still alive, been very busy lately. Thank you very much for your concern ) and Bottou-chan.

Corrections, Critics, complain and flames are welcomed.

**Volume 20 Chapter 3: Hope**

Soukakousai.

The ura uruha member dressed in black cloak with a big black cauldron on his back. He's nastier than Mokuren in many ways. Mokuren likes to hear girls scream. This one, well, likes to keep girls he like inside the cauldron in a certain amount of time or probably forever - only to hear a pathetic and forced love declaration.

Right now he's hovering on a mysterious black cauldron that might be much bigger than it seems, talking to an object that didn't give any positive reply to him.

"... what's wrong... aren't you... feeling well? Outside...... do you miss the sunny world? Do you want to go out...? If you want to come out... it... it's alright. I... just need you to say... you like me... you love me... that you want me to hug you...it... it's alright...... I love you... and you love me too.........!! Come... say it... say "I love you"! Say "I swear I will love you forever"......!!" say it!!!"

I bet anybody inside that nasty cauldron completely hated his gut that he has to lock her in there.

"Then... you'll be happy, then you'll be relieved.........!!"

And it had to stop.

"Say it!!! Ahahahahah!!!"

NOW.

"......... huh? this is... shuri... AHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Soukakousai immediately grasped his right hand, fresh blood is streaming from the wound -- made by the shuriken I've purposely aimed to his hand.

"That won't do. Are you really happy with words spoken like that? Girls are not emotionless dolls. You must treat them with good manners and moral. But you're not qualified. Jyusshinshuu Raiha. From here on, I will be your opponent."

Soukakousai jumped back immediately at my mere introduction. "GAA... R... Raiha, you said......!?"

I replied with a big grin. "Yep."

"grr..." The ura uruha member froze, he seemed to want to escape as fast as his feet would bring him. His expression was partially hidden by his black cloak, but I could feel that he's intimated by me. "wah... wahhhh!!" He threw something at me as an attempt to break out.

I slashed it and found out that it was a bag of powder, which fell all over me.

"Got you now!!" He took the cauldron from his back, and opened it, which activated the madougu – It started to suck me and everything around me to the cauldron.

I know I have to resist… kinda…

"Moron!! Anyone who's been sprayed with that powder... will be sealed inside this caldron!! Fuuko too... got sucked in like that!!"

That sounded like trouble. I glanced at Soukakousai for a second. "I see, so Fuuko is really in there?" Without another thought, I stopped resisting the madougu's power and flung myself into the cauldron. "HERE I COME!!"

"I WON!!! I defeated that Raiha!! ehehe!! Fuukooo!! Your love has made me strong!!!"

There's a momentarily lapse and the psycho's insane laughter slowly dissolves.

I closed my eyes, and tried to search the smallest hint of life in the gloomy surroundings. Fuuko's presence is vague, but she is in here. I knew I'll meet her again sooner or later, I just never expected it to be inside a cauldron. The Raijin is slowly twitching inside my ninja suit, reacting to its counterpart. It decided to speak directly to my mind.

/_What are you doing, Raiha? You're rescuing an enemy when you could simply let her die and rot in here_./

'This is none of your business.' I answered it silently.

/_Oh, I know. You're starting to like her, aren't you_?/

'What if I do?'

/_Wait till she finds out that you're really a monster_./

'Everybody in uruha are monsters."

/_Don't let emotions hinder you from your final objective. You should know well_. _That girl is too weak and unrefined…_/

'Let's just say this. She's my only hope of ever freeing my self from you."

/_Interesting. I'd like to see her try_./

'Never know until you try.'

/_We'll see about that. If you want to do that, you have to return the Fuujin's main jewel to her. That means I'm finally free. How delightful_./ It stated simply before returning to its silence.

I let my ninja instinct carry myself to her, and I found Fuuko, her emerald spheres are casting me an empty look.  
  
Her lips weakly moved. "… Who's there...?"  
  
I kneeled down and bowed at her with a smile.  
  
"I'm your prince, here to save you."

_

* * *

_

**Volume 20 Chapter 4: Shatter  
** Fuuko **  
**

At first I had tried to find a way out, but it took too much out of Fuujin. The madougu was left lifeless on my right arm now, nothing more than a hand ornament. So I stood, searching over and over again on the dark walls. I did not know how I did it, everything was a blur, but I somehow got to my feet and staggered around the obscurity. My feet took me around the bend without me willing them to, wandering aimlessly in the dark. And when I could not find the strength to stand anymore I sat on the black floor, nonchalantly staring at the endless room in front of me.

The darkness rang with the madman's insane laughter.

It dissipated and left me alone again in the dark.

I swiftly lost track of time. At moments I could swear I was falling asleep, only to find myself was staring at the same old blackness. As soon as I sensed myself aware, the surrounding forced my body back into nothingness quietly. And the moment I found my mind concentrating, it went adrift to total oblivion. Only a small part of me still clung to consciousness.

It's depressing to be totally alone.

_The pain... it really hurts... everyone left me... alone... I thought about death... junior high... I didn't trust anyone, and I didn't have any friends……_

_………I can't remember a thing…_

It was emptiness, spread down on every inch of the place. There was nothing in there. My throat became sore and dry, and it seemed to be an eternity. After what was certainly forever or perhaps just a few hours –

A light.

I looked up and there's something - there's someone, walking to my direction.

Someone is approaching from the darkness. I tried to get to it, but found out my body isn't responding. But somehow, my lips are moving in their own accord, voicing my only thought of the moment. "…Who's there...?"

The familiar figure kneeled down and bowed at me with a very relieving smile.

"I'm your prince, here to save you."

........... _Prince......? That...... before... before this...... there was something like that... _

A Light.

_The water dungeon.__ I was a mermaid, waking up on the lap of a- _

Darkness.

_No...... I can't think........._

"I'm sorry, Fuuko."

There was a sudden sting on my right cheek. Then, I'm back to the emptiness.

And extremely _harassed_.

Somebody… is… there's… somebody is grabbing… my… _br_…

_B87, my breast, my breast, my breast, my breast, it's been dark recently, speaking of which, did I wear a bra today? 86, who's there? Soukakusai, right hand H_

_pervert__,_

_Pervert, _

_PERVERT_

The moment my eyes snapped open and found a man in front of me, my fist has connected to his jaw.  
  
**C R A S H**

"What the hell, asshole!!! YOU ARE DEAD, MORON!!!" My head is throbbing with fury and humiliation, but the pervert can't be found. Not in front of me…

" ...... huh?"

I cautiously tiptoed to a bleeding 'corpse' and found out that the pervert was none other than--"...Raiha?" My anger melted away into downright puzzlement.

"I'm dead." He muttered.

"What the…what are you doing here?" I helped him to stand up.

"Ouch…" He shook his head and rubbed his jaw. "I thought I heard your voice, and Soukakousai said you're inside the cauldron." He stood up and brushed off the dirt from his ninja suit. "So I went in here to look for you."

My hand inattentively went to my 'harassed' breast. "…Why did you do that?"

He instantly lost the calm that was just there earlier, his face was burning, and starts to sweat. Really bad.

"I'm very very sorry…" He scratched his head. ""I-I didn't do any sexual harassment! Please don't think of me as a pervert, I did that… because I, errh, have no other, um, choices… since you didn't seem to react to violence…It was, um, a, errh, last resort. Please forgive me."

"…"

"If you want, you can punch me one more time."

"…no."

"… Or you can do anything you want with me."

_I can't get married anymore_…

It was as if he's reading my mind again, and he said, "I'd marry you if nobody would."

I rolled my eyes at him. He just seemed to shrink. I decided it is best not to press on him for more answers, since I'm afraid he'll get a nosebleed sooner or later. I sighed.

"How do we get out of here?" I asked, after what seemed to be without end.

He suddenly perks up. "I'll try to find the exit right away!"

I sat down the floor again as Raiha is feeling the dark walls around us. It's really weird … of all the people around here, he's the one that showed up. "It's funny how we keep bumping to each other like this, huh? What a weird coincidence." I said.

There were a couple moments of silence before he spoke. "It's not a coincidence."

I looked up at him attentively. "What?"

"Nothing, just forget it. How did you get in here?" he asked.

"He was following me… and I let him for the first few hours. But then he started taking my pictures and I felt annoyed."

"Then?"

"So I dared myself to fight him… what do I know… he has these disgusting stuffs I don't even wanna think about and do things that gives me goose bumps." I rubbed my arms irately, "thinking of that Soukakousai just makes me so… eewwww!"

Raiha decided that it's best not to comment on my angry hateful remark and gave me a simple nod.

"Then he did something that-" This time I rubbed the back of my neck irately, making sure that the madman's… _anything_ is NOT on my skin, "Made me lost composure and sucked me into this blasted cauldron."

I looked at Raiha's back. I could feel his presence at my side, like one feels the presence of a friend in the room - unthreatening. Almost comfortable. It's hard to believe that he is Kurei's right hand man. The feel of another human being so close was like drinking a cup full of water after wandering through a desert or seeing the light after being lost in the dark.

He placed his hand on his chin. "I see. And so you ended up in here."

"Uh... I thought there'd be an exit somewhere, so I started off making a big fuss. I thought to break this dimension like the time against Magensha's majigen...... in the end, I even used up the last fuujin..."  
  
"_No good...... I'm sorry, master. Nothing I can do, I'm sorry...... there are no more small crystals anymore. Fuujin shall hibernate...... hurry...... hurry and get my body... and I......"_ It was Fuujin's last words.

"And so the madougu fuujin has silenced and turned into an accessory... I am only a high school sophomore girl...... even if I can get out of here... what can I do...... it's hopeless. It's so depressing to be alone. I'm always thinking about the negative stuff."

Raiha spoke up again after a silence. "That's so unlike you! Being human, anyone will think about negative stuff. And become hopeless sometimes. But, these minus thoughts will not help the result one bit. However it is better than those completely optimistic and all happy people who don't think at all. You are... you guys are always fighting... very hard- and you defeated Kurei-sama! Get up! We're going to look for the exit!"

He looked straight into my eyes. "The point is- to have the courage to stand up once again after your hopelessness!"

_I don't know why, but I'm beginning to have a very strange feeling._

"......do I sound like I'm lecturing you?" Raiha asked.

I smiled. "...no, no! THANK YOU!!" I stood up, my confidence was back after a small support booster. "Let's start searching!! Harder, harder!!"

_What am I doing, being so worked up by words from a friendly stranger? Where did all these mixed-up feelings come from?_

----  
  
Raiha placed a hand on a part of the wall. "This is it."

I looked around and found zip. "This place... there's nothing here!!"

"It's a kekkai (barrier) of vision. Starting from here, space continues in an endless loop." He smiled and held up his trusted katana. "Shall we go outside now?"

With a slash, a piece of spell paper with the word "seal" written on it got cut in half, and along with it, all that blackness was gone too. The surrounding made me absolutely stunned.

"Certainly...... I must say he is so foolish," Raiha stepped in to the small cauldron. The rest of the place is really only so big. About twice the size of my room... there are many corpses in there, mostly turned to bones already. But from the hair and clothing, I can still recognize that they were female. Used to be… female.

"For the purpose of fulfilling his own desires...... for that reason alone... he imprisoned so many girls with a future, took away their freedom. It must have been painful......... they must have been frightened......... don't the painful cries reach the ears of that eccentric demon."

_And to think that I almost turned out like that_…

"That hateful man responsible...... will **_die_**_,_" Raiha aimed his katana on the cauldron's wall and stabs right through and into Soukakusai. The madman's screech followed suit. "AHH...... GAAAAA!!" The cauldron shattered and I found myself outside, the madman is down on the floor.  
  
It was a look of such extreme terror, such panic, that it was almost comic; Soukakusai's face was that of someone who has just realized he has been the butt of a horrible, monstrous joke. "Forgiv... cough, cough...... AHHHHH!!" his voice gurgled through blood-painted teeth, trailing off into a silence as he convulsed horribly on the bloody ground. He is twitching on the crimson floor, the terrifyingly comic expression plastered on his face in a horrified mask, blood everywhere.

Raiha watched him in a frozen mask. There's a glint in his eye that scared me. "Please, Fuuko. Please close your eyes. I don't want you to see this..." Something made me deathly afraid; I couldn't put my finger on it, but I sensed something was not quite right. I had never seen his face like this, and I felt frightened.

I closed my eyes.

"My life....!! Please!! Please forgive me......" The demon's voice that was once filled with triumphant laughter now was choking with fear. I'm surprised he hasn't wet his pants. "AHH..."

"How did you reply to the women who said that to you?"

The instant I opened my eyes, I immediately regretted my decision. The horrible scene played out before my eyes in slow motion; I saw everything that happened clearly. As the blade came down on him, the man raised his hands feebly up and screamed. I saw the glittering katana descend on Soukakusai's neck, and sent his head flying a moment before landing on the ground with a thud.  
  
Raiha stood there. And for one moment I thought that he was not human.

I clamped my jaw shut, squeezing my eyes tightly. The horrible image plastered in my mind, even when I had my eyes close. His touch on my shoulder stuttered me, but it was gentle, and with my eyes closed, he slowly led me out of the murder site.

"You can open your eyes now."

He has returned back to the typical Raiha, his gentle smile hung on his face, and there's no trace that he just beheaded a man with brutality.

"You saw it, didn't you?"

I was speechless.


	4. 4

**A/N: **Thank you reviewers, Tanuki-chan, Scarlet7, Kat-gurl1, MoonPhoenix, RequiemKei, and Recca-chan. I update very lazily, I knew that. I really, really need a beta reader… any volunteers?

**----**

**Vol.23 chapter 222: 3 days before final battle 4: **

**=Kirisawa Fuuko= **

**LEVEL MAX!! (Part 1) **

Threw in a bunch of Uruha in a quiet little villa at the outskirts of Tokyo, and we've set our new base.

Our master didn't complain about the shelter I provided to Tsukino. He acted indifferently when I told him the news of his mother's survival, but couldn't stop the tears welling in his eyes when he saw Tsukino's breathing figure right in front of him. It was the second time I saw Kurei cried in front of people – the first time was when Kurenai's existence was robbed from him by a detonator in her chest.

As I saw him saying "I'm home," to his mother after removing his mask, Tsukino rushed over to him, not bothering to say "Welcome back." She wrapped her arms around her son, buried her face in Kurei's shoulder, and wept in Kurei's arm.

Joker grinned and slapped my back. I looked at my comrade's face, and I knew I was smiling too.

Kurei, after all, is still human. Right now he's probably enjoying a nap that he never tasted for the years he spent under Mori Kouran's oppression.

Three days were given to us to prepare for the final battle with Tendou Jigoku. Now is the best time for me to leave. Nobody will notice me leaving, I thought. Then a voice called out from my back, "Where are you going?" - destroying the chance of my well calculated decision.

Probably not.

"Someplace…" I replied, not turning around to face him. "I have some unfinished business."

Joker sighed. I could feel that he's scratching the back of his head. "You're gonna leave Kurei here?"

He made me feel bad about it.

"Kurei-sama will be all right. Besides, you're here to protect him."

"Come back soon, okay?"

"All right."

"And say hello to Fuuko for me."

I spun around, but Joker already went inside the house. Only God knows if he'll report my conduct to Kurei or not, and only our master can be the judge of my acts. Leaving him for several days under Joker's and Sanba Karasu's supervision while I left to train a former _enemy_ or a former _friend_ might sound treacherous in Kurei's part, and I pondered for a while. A stray breeze tousled a lock of my brown hair, pulling it free from under the constrictions of my headband, and the second thing I knew my feet was carrying me to my next destination.

Nagogiri.

Hokage's town.

Kirisawa Fuuko's place.

----

I never really understand how girls think.

Knowing about Neon's unconditional love toward our master, she was probably trying to revive some ancient Madougus to aid her in the battle against Mori Kouran. Aki and Miki will undoubtedly be there by her side, since they are as faithful to her sister as Neon to Kurei.

Fuuko, instead, spent some quality time with her 'sister', and learned that Video Game was a bad choice of entertainment for her the _hard_ way, so eventually they ended up in the nearby park for a ball game.

Then I found out that she also doesn't have the necessary skill of deceptions that the Uruhas do.

I watched Fuuko carefully from my hiding place, and noticed how her face involuntarily fell and her fist clenched when Ganko left her to buy some drink. I fought off the urge to come near her, take her in my arms, and offer her some bit of solace in my part. It won't do me any good to perform such act, since the only thing I'll receive in exchange is probably a nice stinging feeling on my jaw, or if I'm luckier, on the cheek. So I gripped my palms firmly and waited until Ganko appeared in front of her, two freezing cans in her tiny hands.

I, instead, chose to dress in a black cloak and prepared some bit of fortune telling equipments, in hope to buy myself a way to set up a civil conversation with her. I checked my reflection on the crystal ball for the last time and took a deep breath. "He---llo. You two over there!!"

The girls turned their head to my direction, and Ganko's juvenile eyes turned even bigger as she walked closer to me.

"It's such a great weather today! It's lifted my mood! For that, I'll give you free fortune readings," I chuckled when I said that, ignoring the ticklish feeling of my fake mustache.

Fuuko tilted her head a bit. "Our fortunes?"

"Coo---l!!" Ganko squealed and showed her palm to me. "Look, look---!!"

So I did it. "Umu! Oh---!! This is good!! Your life line is long!! Also...in the future, you'll be a beauty with many boys. Plenty of money! You're blessed with good health...etc..."

Ganko ran off to the direction where they came, squealing about the crooked lies I just told her. It was too soon to feel guilty about how Ganko's eyes shone when I lied to her, since the older Hokage eventually shoved her palm under my nose. "Not too suspicious..." she said, "This time, look at my future!"

Just as I expected.

"Of course, of course…" I pulled my left arm free from the robe's loose sleeve, and proceeded to trace the line of her hand with my index finger. "Signs of death…" I trailed off, ignoring the feeling of Fuuko's tensing fingers beneath mine.

"I can see "death"!" I exclaimed, "Miss, I don't know what you're in to... but it would be a good thing to be rid of those thoughts!!! Within people's eyes, there is a light which emits. That is the light of life! Right now, your light...has dimmed, been blurred!!"

My words were harsh and carefully chosen; but I didn't enjoy the way verbal could be twisted to a ruthless style, one that could cause others to become intimidated. She stared doubtfully at me first, digesting the meaning of my words while Ganko and several children were twirling their arms in the air above their heads.

The empty swings hung suspended and watched us both, until Fuuko pulled her hand abruptly from my grasp and turned her rigid back at me.

"Ah! Do you understand, miss!?"

"Very well…" She replied, "Don't say you should forget good fortunes and keep the bad fortunes in mind! I act the opposite," She gave me her famous confident smile, hitting me with realization. "I've already forgotten it. _Sorry_…"

It sounded more like she was apologizing to herself than to me. She's more than ready. _To die_. I fought off another urge to tell Fuuko that she'll never save Yanagi that way.

"...Even so...You face against your fate. ...For that---" I gave her a fortune paper which she took without a question. "Read this once you got home."

----

The night view of Nagogiri town from the height is somewhat spectacular, but I cared none of it.

_Fuuko__ will come_, I assured myself. _She always answers immediately to challenge._

_But you'll never know_, another voice in my head said, _you saw how down she was inside Soukakousai's cauldron. She told you she was ready to die, right?_

And I'm the one who told her about her death.

_Eventually, you're the one who'll also deliver it to her. _

I shook out of reverie when sounds of breaking twigs and rustling grass disturbed the still air surrounding the forest, and a voice called out. "Hey! Where are you?"

Fuuko emerged from the darkness, wearing a blank tank top and rigged shorts that perfectly revealed the linings of her body. Her bangs were free from the braids which had fixed them before. My expectation, which was drowning at my gut just now, suddenly seemed to be floating up. Just then, another voice probed at my senses, sending a chill down my spine.

/_My, oh, my… just look at what you have pulled yourself into this time./_

I ignored it. Raijin seemed to be disturbed when I did that, since I felt him shifting uneasily beneath my ninja garb, rattling its tail in an uncaring attempt to break free. The Wind seal is completely broken now. The Wind will go back to its rightful place, freeing the Thunder. The thought made my skin crawl and an uncomfortable sting settled on my throat, reminding me of something I dreaded so much that I eventually preferred my Shinobi skills rather than using its ghastly force.

/_Are you doing this for Kurei or for yourself? Or is it… for her_?/

I finally chose to respond it mutely. 'You should know the answer.'

/_Humans are really pathetic… ready to commit themselves to such a delusional feeling, and they're ready to send themselves to their death_./

'What are you talking about?'

/_You should know the answer…_/

Love. Is that it? It wasn't the exact feeling I wanted to undergo for her.

Then I saw Fuuko produce the small piece I gave her earlier, shouting carelessly. "Come out! Aren't you waiting for me here?"

I jumped down from the branch I've been perching on for the last few hours. "Thank goodness, thank goodness.  
I didn't know if you would come," I said, meaning every word.

"The 'Kirisawa Fuuko-sama' words got to me. What is your real name? _Who are you_?" She asked, her tone indignant and her eyes flashing with speculations.

"A time for friends is at hand… for the time of enemies is here. Don't consider it mysterious... our meeting is _fate_."

I pulled up my cloak, erasing my assumed identity in a timely manner. Fuuko fell down from the revelation, but she picked up her momentum at the right time, and slapped me several times before I was able to avoid it. "What are you trying to get away with?!"

In return, I raised my katana between her eyes with a murderous intent. She immediately stopped dead track, sweat starting on her temples.

"Didn't I tell you … signs of death will appear?" I found my words were filled with sheer intimidation. "It's not a lie. Like this, against Mori-sama...fighting with us, you will die. Fuuko, Right now, you are of a lower level! Or....tell me that you would risk being pushed over the line of death for power-"

_And you might as well die in my hands. _

"Please show me your proof. Please, show me."

I missed out the fact that she was trembling under the fury of having a katana pointed to her face. I missed out the fact that she has her madougu on her hip while I was begging her to attack me. She replied my challenge with a slash from her trusted Shinryo Shintou, and I managed to escape the hit, much to the surprise she caused.

"**Shove your signs of death!**" She yelled furiously, sending me another blow. "**You show me proof that you don't want to die!!"**

"Yes… That's right..."

Fuuko took the liberty of drawing a fist to my body when she finally cornered me to a tree stump, but I escaped at the last moment. I made sure that she realized I've missed her hit with a light strike on the back of her neck.

I chuckled as she reached up to rub the flesh irately. "You… **Bastard!!!**" she seethed.

Again, I parried her next rage easily with my katana and I saw Fuuko gritted her teeth.

_Fuuko__  
You have every reason to prepare yourself  
I, for these three days… for that reason will harden your strength _

I ducked, avoiding her Kunais by an inch and they stayed at the tree stump.

_Your strength to face death- Don't block what's before your eyes  
You mustn't forget the strength of fighting for your life.  
You still need to become stronger  
Please, become stronger,_

_Kirisawa__ Fuuko._


	5. 5

**--------------------------------**

**Chapter 223: Before the Final ****Battle**** - Three Day Period, No.5  
Kirisawa Fuuko  
LEVEL MAX!!!!!!!!, last part**

**--------------------------------**

I was an amateur in the romance field.

I've seen enough evidence of how love is pain with Kurei's experience. Looking at how he occasionally glanced at Kurenai, and the shining smile she gave him. When Kurenai died, she took Kurei's last human bit with her, and when he turned Kurenai a part of him as his flame, it stayed the same. 

I had believed it was the last straw. Mouran Kouri's intention to erase all hope within Kurei succeeded and I doubted I can change that. Neon joined the Uruha in hope to revive that lost part, and I tried to stop her – for she'll never make it. Noting, that it'll be equally fruitless. A delicate frown and "Did you even try, Raiha?" was her answer when I clued-up her about the detail. I couldn't find a thing to say about that, and granted her the access to our budding assassin group. She has her own ideals, and it wasn't in my place to judge it. Neon's a hopeless romantic, and she proved it when she shoved me those romance novels under my nose and forced me to read it through tireless hours of flowery persuasive speech. I complied with her request ultimately. Joker had this sneaking suspicion that I did it only to shut her up. The books usually had a different starter, but it has one ending secretly embossed and pinned down in every readers mind.

The big 'Happily Ever After'.

Was she hoping for it when she joined the Uruha despite my protests? Was she secretly pinning for it when she jumped off the cliff with Kurei in her arms? Was she hoping that she can get Kurei away from the life of an assassin, and live in an unknown place where nobody knows them? She proved her devotion to our master when she did the latter, and I wondered if it was her love or her devotion kicking in at that time. It's probably both.

Then Joker and his infamous tales of skirt chasing, which nobody quite believed, had obviously taught me a thing or two. "Treat a girl with your utmost respect," he once said. "Save her life a couple of times so she feels obligated to you. And that way, they will _always_ remember you."

Not everybody in Uruhas was good instructors, and they have bad luck in romance fields to boot. Our _leader_, Kurei, was being a very good example of one. …Wait, Rasen and Mokuren have females latching over them. In that case, Joker and I were very lacking in that field. We don't have plucky- madougu- users- combatant- women- with- rabid- fangirls- vigor that were willing to throw away their life for us.

I've partly believe that it was my shameless blood kicking in when I pledge my loyalty to Kurei, and another part of me wanted to believe that it was my sheer respect for the man. My ancestors fled from the War, and forever I was shamed from it. When the chance to redeem was given by the one we have _betrayed_ ourselves, I had no other reason to refuse. The Enjutsushi took me under his wings, and trusted upon me my family's heirloom. He also told me, that one day a wielder of Raijin's counterpart will appear before me, and our fated battle will ensue.

_What is it about your own ancestors that you hate so much_?

Sometimes, fundamentally, they're not your "own". You don't like them, they don't like you, you don't like yourself. A matter of disowning is an absolute no. They were long departed, and yet their sin was ceaselessly stamped on me, their offspring.

And ever since I countered her at the Uruha grounds, my life was never the same. And never once I wasn't astonished.  She implied to me personally - that humans can change their destiny. That's it's possible to break free of the life you were born into that you can't stand and embrace another that you love. Neither is "better" than the other, it's just that one is the life I was _supposed_ to live, not the one I was born to.

I followed Kurei, and saw the best and the worst that it have to offer. I had no choice. It's in my blood.

_Blood or not, you like Kurei don't you_?

In hope to give us a decent match, I was being constantly reminded of Uruha's favorite adage: "_Lie, cheat, steal, seduce, betray. Use people. And when you can no longer use them, destroy them._" Kurei taught me countless times how these acts will unnecessarily save my sorry hide if I want to live, and will _definitely_ promise my way out of annoying problems up my neck. 

In hope to strengthen her, I fooled her with a silly letter imprinted with her name. She took up my challenge, and our battle ensued for three days and three nights. A ninja's ability is to endure, and as I watched Fuuko, I could only hope the time I've contributed isn't wasted. The third sun already cracked up the sky several hours ago.

And five minutes has passed since the last time I attacked her.

She sat with her back against the tree stump, and slowly raised her face to observe her surroundings. Kirisawa Fuuko never ceased to amaze me, and I was hoping for a better encounter than the last 72 hours we've shared inside this forest.

…That must have sounded quite uncanny if you have a really distorted mind.

A firm grip on the explosives on my waist, and I waited until she slowly closed her eyes. She stood with her legs fairly apart and Shinryu Shintou dangerously low, parallel to her shoulders.

I dashed down from the tree with my katana in left, when the blasting from my explosive has withered Fuuko's surrounding into a roasting desecrate. She made no sign of conscience concerning my whereabouts as I drew out and prepared to attack her from behind.

Then she turned around and smiled.

Ninja's stealth was well distinguished, and there was nothing we should feel ashamed about it.  We're infamous as the dwellers of the dark, coming and leaving at any time we see fit, and assassinate without a trace. Kirisawa's grin was a confident one, and the blurry details of it were racing through my mind as she evaded, tackled my composure, and hovered right above me. The tip of Shinryu Shintou on my nose. My eyes still tasted the earth dust where her knee has pressed me down upon, and my innards were hammering like mad inside my ear. The corner of her lips was tilted amusingly, and I realized it – I was staring wide eyed at her, dropping my jaw at her.

"Heh-heh, that's a first, Raiha!!" A furtive wink, and she removed the weapon from my sight, bangs whipping gently on her cheek.

I could feel my hope soaring up, and then brought back again to ground when the peculiar, familiar pitch in my head voiced up its thought. The weight of a five hundred year old transgression was heavy in my ninja garb, against my chest, slanting its legs in a still motion as a cue.

[_The time has come, Raiha_.]

The sun squinted through the forest's thick leaven blanket, kissing Fuuko's brown head with golden trails on it. A grin came unexpectedly to my mouth. "Excellent."

----

"You have a great power of concentration. Senses of sight, hearing, touch. Using the five senses, even the sound of an explosion won't affect you. Only that way could you catch me! It's said, "even during a time of fighting, you should get sleep." It's necessary to recover your strength to have a daring judgment... Nothing else sharpens the senses like waking up! These three days--- remember to have nerve during a fight and remember your honing, Fuuko!"

She laughed, placing her arms neatly at her hips. Luckily, though I made her life living hell for the last three days, she hasn't shown any dissatisfaction. "So there are people who can't grow up! You must be suffering when you can't radiate that murderous intent!" Yet.

"...There's something… I have to give to you," I said, weary-smiled.

I dug my hand into the ninja garb, and fingered the roundness of the object with my thumb momentarily before producing it out into the sun. And even though I wasn't looking at her, I could feel her eyes widened and her jaw quivered at the green crystal's sight.

"Fuujin's ...main jewel," Fuuko whispered.

 "Until now, I've been using it to seal "Raijin". The two hold similar powers of the same intensity, and using the Fuujin's power, the Raijin slept. That strong power... The madougu called Raijin holds terrible powers--- I dread to use it, so I only fight with my own power. But--- The "time" has come. Of the Uruhas, Ura Uruha excels above them all! The moment spent with that Aoi...truly, I was terrified of her power. There's also the Tendoujigoku monster, Mori Kouran. Even Kurei-sama knows these opponents will inevitably give a hard battle--- And so... I also have to be prepared. I'll _fight_ with Raijin."

A minute shuddered and hunched shoulders, and I paused, waiting for her reaction to be nonchalant again.

"To be prepared for this, it was necessary to return the Fuujin's main jewel to you. But--- Before that, I had to test your abilities. To see if you were prepared to use its power."

The green crystal passed from the clutch of my knuckles, and she caught it with ease.

"You passed. Good luck..." Feet shuffled on the forest dirt, and I turned my back on her. I was walking away from our comfy hideaway for the last three days when she shouted my name.

"Wait, Raiha!! There's one thing I want to hear!! Why...have you--- fought for Kurei's sake? Why?"

_Blood or not, you like Kurei don't you_?

"He's cute and I love him."

I have the intention to give her additional information that sounded like, '_I love that man and would have his babies, only somebody already volunteered for the job and he doesn't swing that way. And I never did in the first place. ...Why does this always surprise everyone_?'

Problem is, Fuuko's reaction was a loud crash to the ground, and countless furious knuckles on my head.

"I was just kidding around... It's the same as why you are with Recca. ...and I dare say..."

_Remember, Raiha. We're the descendants of Hokage._

"It's in...my 'blood'."

-------------------------------------

**Chapter 267: Uruha into War**

-------------------------------------

The cave was big, dampened from the nearby river's stream, and seemed out of place from the Heaven and Hell complex. Mori Kouran built the intricate compound full of traps and skilled fighters, placed programmed bodyguards at unwatched places, but he kept the strongest close only to himself. Save the best for last. None of the Shiseiten has shown their noses the moment we stepped in, and Kurei's appearance must have waked both Ura Uruha's and Hokage's awareness like sharks picking the iron stench of blood.

Kurei went down the other path with Joker, and I haven't seen him ever since.

_"I guess we should split here."_

_"I suppose…" Unsure nails ran across the scalp. _

_"Hey, Joker?"___

_"Hm?"___

_"Take care… I'll see you later, okay?"_

_He paused, and something inside him seemed to freeze. Then, he __flashed his distinctive fanged grin __and laughed heartily, shoulders hunching against his Taishaku Kaiten. "Maa, what's with the serious look, Raiha-han? C'mon, you're much better with that dorky grin of yours! We're gonna have so much fun in there, and you will instantly forget me the moment you got in!"_

_Joker's joke felt out of time and place, and he realized it a steep second before Kurei turned his chin ever so slightly, indicating him to shut up. "Sorry… I just don't want both of you so tensed up, ya know?"_

_"…Joker, you're coming with me."_

_Our master's tone was a demand, the flat and dry order he usually gives us. Though his face was partially covered by his mask, his expression went half through his voice, hushed and throaty. Was it concern?_

_Why?_

_Meanwhile, Joker was baffled. "Huh?"_

_"Raiha will take that path," Kurei observed, pointing uncaringly to the other exit. "You're coming with me."_

_We were silent at first, and kept it that way until Joker broke it again with his ear-piercing laugh. "I guess I can't defy your orders, Kurei." He shrugged and slithered to me, d__raped an arm over my shoulders and whispered, "I think Kurei can't stand being alone. You go that way, I'll take care of him."_

_I grinned. It wasn't a happy one, but I smiled. "I'm counting on you."_

_"Goodbye, Raiha." He said, his voice dropping to a whisper. "It's been fun."_

See you later. He should have said _See you later_. I should have forced him to said See you later. Ever since we entered the Heaven and Hell premises, Joker has been silent, but I was silent as well, too occupied with my own thoughts to further probe him about it. I was too occupied with the expectancies of my future battle with Fuuko, who was lying unconscious in front of me.

Strangely enough, I've bittersweet feelings of encounter and separation. Encounter leads to separation. Separation leads to encounter. The never ending twists of fate. Like it or not, she will be the one to break the binding chain. I hope.

The machines must have been programmed to attack every living creature, because when one of them was blown to pieces they turned their attention from Fuuko to me.

_Fuuko__...This will be the last time I save you._

I placed the legendary madougu to my right hand, ignoring how it made my skin crawl. "Raijin," My command to its name was a hushed whisper, so as not to break the wind's slumber.

A jab into the neck, and darkness covered my eyes. When light finally greet my sight again, the gigantic machines were down, and my knee immediately gave in to the energy drain, and found myself kneeling next to Fuuko.

_Fuuko__... _

_Next time we meet, surely..._

I dug my shoes into the cave's frozen floor, ignored the burnt smell of roasted iron and metal, and slipped into the darkness.


End file.
